Lyra’s mouth makes this adorable “O” shape as she stares at me. She turns back to Agent Hall, shaking her head slowly before she drags her eyes back to me.

“You knew about all of this?”

“Yes and no,” I say slowly, my words measured. “I had hunches, before I even started the acquisition process with Bill’s company. And when Agent Hall and her team approached me...” I shrug, smiling grimly. “Well, I’m more than happy to help when it comes to cleaning up the scum who’d cheat their way to the top.”

Lyra shakes her head. “But Bill said…” She trails off, scowling as she glares at Agent Hall “You said—”

“I said what I had to make sure your stepfather did what we needed him to do.” The older woman clears her throat. “I’m sorry if you feel lied to or misled, but we needed your stepfather wearing the wire when he engaged in illicit and insider trades here at his place of work in order to have a case. And he’d only do it if he thought you were on ‘our side’ too, helping to sting Mr. Castle.”

Lyra glares at her again, and I can’t help but grin at the fire I can see in her eyes. I’d make a note never to lie to this girl, but I already know that’s never even going to be an option.

I’ll never lie to her. Ever.

Lyra suddenly pales though, her eyes growing wide. “But doesn’t that implicate all of Castle Capital?”

“Nope.” I grin. I fucking love it when a well orchestrated plan comes together, and the pieces to this one are falling into place beautifully. I let my eyes linger, drinking her in as she stands there shaking her head. Yeah, she might be young, but there’s a wiseness to her that sucks me in — a depth to her I’ve flat out fallen into. With all the chess pieces and moves I saw in my head with this whole plan, there’s one piece and one move I never saw.

Her.

She’s a wild card — a random factor that I never expected. But fuck am I glad she fell into my world. And now that she’s in it, I know one thing above all else: there’s no way I’m letting her go.

“Part of my acquisition of Bill’s firm involved a structured merge. Purposefully, I might add. Yes, Bill and his team were here, and working out of my offices, but they weren't Castle Capital employees — not officially yet.”

“Which clears you and your team.”

I nod, and Lyra smirks, her eyes flashing at me. “Not bad.” Her lips pull back in a grin, and I can see her about to move towards me, when she pauses, her face darkening.

“Wait, so, what you said before…” She glances back at Agent Hall. “About Damien, I mean.”

“He’s clean,” Agent Hall shrugs her shoulders, sighing. “Trust me, we’ve damn well looked.”

And trust me, they have.

I can see from Lyra’s face that Bill probably told her the same shit that most people who don’t know me think — that I’m the biggest crook of all. But the truth is? I’m not crook. I don’t cheat, and I don’t use insider trades, and I don’t “bend” the rules to my advantage.

The truth of it is, I’m just really fucking good at what I do.

“Anyways, if we have any other questions, we’ll direct them to your staff?”

I nod at Agent Hall, who glances at Lyra as she turns to the door.

“You’ve got a great boss here, Ms. Worthington. He’s one of the good ones.”

She nods formally at me before jerking her head to the rest of her team and heading out of my office. And then finally, I’m alone with my angel.

We stare at each other for all of half a second before she’s crashing into me, her arms flinging around my neck and her face buried in my chest. I hold her tightly, possessively, like she’s mine and like I’m never going to let her go. I tilt her head up, and then I’m kissing her fiercely, pouring everything into her lips to remind her who we are, together.

“So, you were working with them?” She says quietly, finally pulling away. “The FBI I mean?”

“No, not officially, but Agent Hall and her team tried to pin shit on me for years and never found a thing. I don’t blame them for it. In fact, I respect them for doing their diligence. And my books are always open to them, because I’m no thief.”

She smiles, biting her lip and shaking her head slowly. “So, you’re just really good at what you do, huh?”

I grin hungrily, my grip tightening on her. “You tell me, angel.”

She blushes fiercely, but she nods eagerly, her bright eyes shining.

“I knew Bill and Regent Capital were dirty as a garbage truck long before I ever approached him about the ‘merger.’ His books were littered with clues to his bullshit and his insider deals, and it’s why I bought out the company when I did. Now, I’ll help the FBI, but I’m no snitch. So it wasn’t me that tipped them off or anything, but his stuff was so dirty, I knew they weren’t even going to need a tip.”

I take her hand and move her to the sitting area across the room, to a small couch that looks out over the whole city through the glass.

“I knew he was going to get busted, which is why I structured the deal the way I did. I brought him into Castle Capital, I slowly took the best parts of Regent and bought out the contracts of his clean, non-criminal employees, and simply let the dirty ones dig their own graves. When his arrest hits the papers, and when his investors hear that the trusted employees and traders of his company now work for mine, I’ll have them too.”

I grin.

“Oh, and of course, I’m suing him for failure to disclose criminal activities before merger, so, that up-front money comes back too.”

Lyra shakes her head with this sort of proud amusement on her face before she leans in and kisses me softly.

“You always get what you want, don’t you?”

“Always,” I growl, grabbing her tight. She squeals, giggling as I pull her into my lap and settle her over my thickening cock. “I always get what I want, and angel?” I lean close, my lips brushing hers.

“You’re what I wanted more than anything in this world.”

Our lips crash together, and the kiss is hungry and heated. She moans, her hips rolling on my lap and her hands tugging at my shirt as I kiss her deeply. My hands grab her ass, and my tongue explores her as I swallow the moans from her lips.

Slowly though, I can feel her tensing up, and when she pulls away, I can see the shadow on her face.

“Angel?”

She looks down, her brow furrowed.

“My family…I mean, my birth father didn’t leave us with much, and when Bill goes away, my mom will have nothing. Her brow furrows deeper, and her mouth goes small.

“I’ll have nothing, I mean—”

“Of course you will,” I growl fiercely, stopping her words and cupping her face in my hands. I let my eyes pierce right into hers, never once blinking.

“You have me, and you’ll always be mine,” I growl fiercely. “Forever, angel. You’ll have whatever you could possibly need or want. If you want to sit back and do nothing all day, it’s done. If you want to work, and strive to build what’s yours, consider it your dream to go after.”

I watch a single tear of joy start to roll down her cheek, before I kiss it away.

“You’ll have the world, angel. And your mother too, of course. Whatever she needs, it’s done.”

I cup her face, my eyes burning into hers.

“Anything, baby girl,” I hiss fiercely. “Ask for the damn sun, and I’ll put it in a box all for you.”

But before I can say another word, Lyra throws her arms around my neck, crushes her soft, pouty lips to mine, and kisses me, hard. I growl into it, swallowing her moans and holding her small body tight to mine, like I never want to let her go. And when I do pull away, I already know what I’m going to say.

Shit, I knew I’d say this the second I saw her.

“I think you should marry me.”

Lyra’s eyes go wide as saucers, and her bottom lip falls open in such a cute, sexy way that I want to suck it between my own lips and push her back down on the sofa. Her breath catches, and I watch as she slowly swallows, her eyes searching mine.

“Was that a proposal?” she says quietly — so quietly that it’s almost a breath of air that wisps from her lips.

“No,” I growl. “This is.”

She gasps, her hands flying to her face as I pull her up off the couch to her feet, kiss her cheek, and then drop to one knee in front of her. The whole of fucking New York glitters in the late afternoon sun, and as the light dances over her face, I somehow fall just a little bit more in love with her, as if that was even possible.

I’m ready for this. I’ve been ready to find this girl my whole goddamn life. I’ve been ready to claim her, and make her my own, and protect her fiercely from anything in this world. I’ve been ready to love her, and bring children into this world, and raise a family with her.

And now that I’ve found her, trust me when I say that it’s all happening.

She cries when I bring the ring out. Like I said, I’ve been looking for her my whole life. I’ve prepared for it, keeping this in a safe in my office until a time when I knew I’d need it. Funny thing is, it’s perfect for her. It’s just her style, with just enough jaw-dropping size and glitz to it to stun her, but not so much that it takes away from the jewel she already is.

I pop open the box, looking up into her big blue eyes, with her gingery red hair framing her perfect, angelic face.

“Marry me.”

It’s not a question on purpose.

“Yes!” she cries as she falls into my arms, wrapping her arms so tight around my neck as she peppers my face with kisses.

“Be my queen, angel,” I growl into her neck, kissing her skin and holding her tight. “Be my queen, have our children, and be mine forever.”

She’s still saying yes as I sweep her up into my arms and head for the private elevator to my penthouse, and to my bed.

First she tempted me.

Then I claimed her.

And now she’s mine, and I’m hers.

I play for keeps, I take what’s mine, and I keep what I take.

And I’m keeping my angel, forever.